Muhammad Ali, Michael J. Fox, Linda Ronstadt – these are some of the most well-known faces of Parkinson’s disease.
But millions of people all over the world are living with this diagnosis, and dealing with the constant tremors, pain, and depression that can come with it.
Medication and therapy alike have been used to treat the symptoms and slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease in the brain . . .
. . . and if mindfulness can change the brain, could we apply it in treating Parkinson’s?
That’s exactly what Barbara A. Pickut, MD, M.P.H and researchers at the University of Antwerp in Belgium wanted to find out.
They recruited Parkinson’s outpatients to participate in an -week study, and randomly assigned them to either a
mindfulness-based intervention group or a usual care group (which served as the control).
The mindfulness-based intervention group took part in eight weekly two and a half hour meetings that included mindfulness exercises like body scans, mindful movement (yoga), and sitting meditation. Participants in this group also received audio recordings of guided meditation so they could practice every day at home.
To determine brain change, participants underwent MRIs before and after the 8-week intervention.
So what did the researchers find?
In the mindfulness group, MRIs showed increased grey matter density in the hippocampus (left and right) and in the right amygdala. The same thing was found in areas of the right and left caudate nucleus, left occipital lobe, and left thalamus.
Parkinson’s can affect any and all of these parts of the brain.
By contrast, the usual care group showed increased grey matter density in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that tends to compensate for the other parts that are affected by Parkinson’s.
Remarkably, this result was absent in the experimental group, which could imply that this part of the brain no longer needed to play a support role when mindfulness is a factor.
Since this study didn’t include a group meant to control for the effects of mindfulness, we can’t be sure that the results were directly connected to mindfulness training. Also, I’d be very interested to see if these results translated to motor/sensory function improvement in the experimental group.
More on this study can be found in Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery (2013).
How have you used mindfulness to help a client cope with a life-changing condition? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
I was suffering from Parkinson’s since 2016 & life had become disastrous for me,72 % of my body was covered by Tremors.After taking product from ultimateherbalclinic.com under supervision of Dr Ernest Albrecht, I started getting results within 3 weeks of their dosage .One day I got extremely sick, could not keep anything down, difficulty standing, restless sleep,I Started taking this remedies 2 times daily Morning and Evening, I am writing this to inform others that nothing was really working to help my PD other than this product.I went off my previous medications (with the doctor’s knowledge) and started on their Parkinson’s disease herbal formula.Treatment went very well and tremors are gone.
My husband was diagnosed of Parkinsons disease 2 years ago we started him on PD natural herbal formula we ordered from AKANNI HERBAL CENTRE, his symptoms totally declined over a 3 weeks use of the AKANNI HERBAL Parkinsons disease natural herbal formula. He is now almost 51 and doing very well, the disease is totally reversed! (Visit www. akanniherbalcentre .com)
I was introduced to Mayaka Natural Clinic and their effective PD treatment protocol. I immediately started on the herbal treatment, it relieved my symptoms significantly. Go to ww w. mayakanaturalclinic. c om. First month on the treatment, my tremors and muscle spasm mysterious stopped. I have been symptom free since treatment
we started my husband on PD natural herbal formula we ordered from AKANNI HERBAL CENTRE, his symptoms totally declined over a 3 weeks use of the AKANNI HERBAL Parkinsons disease natural herbal formula. He is now almost 51 and doing very well, the disease is totally reversed! (Visit www. akanniherbalcentre .com)
I am happy today that I got a herbal medicine from this Arthur Moon herbal cure after many years of Parkinson disease downturn, and I was torn in the process until I met this great company who helped me with a herbal medicine for my Parkinson disease and all Applicants for your Parkinson disease should contact this company email: [ arthurmoon01@gmail.com
I am happy today that I got a herbal medicine from this Arthur Moon herbal cure after many years of Parkinson disease downturn, and I was torn in the process until I met this great company who helped me with a herbal medicine for my Parkinson disease and all Applicants for your Parkinson disease should contact this company email: [ arthurmoon01@gmail.com
In February last year, out of nowhere, my eyes became light sensitive, had slurred speech and I was diagnosed of PARKINSON DISEASE. I started out taking only Azilect, then Mirapex and sinemet as the disease progressed but didn’t help much. In July, I started on PARKINSON DISEASE TREATMENT PROTOCOL from Mayaka Natural Clinic (ww w. mayakanaturalclinic. c om). One month into the treatment, I made a significant recovery, almost all my symptoms were gone. Its been 6 months since I completed the treatment, I live a better life..
My husband was diagnosed of Parkinsons disease 2 years ago, when he was 49. He had a stooped posture, tremors, right arm does not move and also a pulsating feeling in his body. He was placed on Senemet for 8 months and then Siferol was introduced and replaced the Senemet, during this time span he was also diagnosed with dementia. He started having hallucinations, lost touch with reality. Suspecting it was the medication I took him off the Siferol (with the doctor’s knowledge) and started him on PD natural herbal formula we ordered from AKANNI HERBAL CENTRE, his symptoms totally declined over a 3 weeks use of the AKANNI HERBAL Parkinsons disease natural herbal formula. He is now almost 51 and doing very well, the disease is totally reversed! (Visit www. akanniherbalcentre .com)
Hello everyone, I am so glad to write this article today to tell the world how Dr.Azu cured my (HSV VIRUS),I have been detected with (HSV-1&2) since two years ago, ever since then my life has been incomplete bizarre and agony, I have used so many drugs that was prescribed to me by several doctors, but it didn’t cure my (HSV VIRUS) neither did it reduce the pain, until a certain day i was checking for solution on the internet, then miraculously i came across Dr.Azu the powerful herbalist that cure numerous individuals (HSV-1 & HSV-2, HPV 1&2 INFECTIONS). Then I contacted him and explained everything to him, and he prepared a herbal medicine for me that cured my (HSV-1&2) disease totally after taking his herbal medicine as instructed. I’m so happy and glad that I’m back to normal again. So viewers why waiting and being in pain when there’s someone like Dr.Azu that cured different diseases. So contact him via email : dr.azuherbalhome@gmail.com or whatsApp him on +2347087313747.
Using herbal natural remedy was what got me tested negative to HSV 2 after been diagnosed for years.I have spend so much funds on medications like acyclovir (Zovirax), Famciclovir (Famvir), and Valacyclovir (Valtrex). But it was all a waste of time and my symptoms got worst. To me It is very bad what Big pharma are doing, why keep making humans suffer greatly just to get profits annually for medications that doesn’t work.
I’m glad that herbal remedies is gaining so much awareness and many people are getting off medications and activating their entire body system with natural herbal remedies and they are become holistically healed totally. Quickly contact Dr Akhere herbal home now email him directly on drakhereherbalhome017 @gmail. com
My husband was diagnosed of Parkinsons disease 2 years ago, when he was 49. He had a stooped posture, tremors, right arm does not move and also a pulsating feeling in his body. He was placed on Senemet for 8 months and then Siferol was introduced and replaced the Senemet, during this time span he was also diagnosed with dementia. He started having hallucinations, lost touch with reality. Suspecting it was the medication I took him off the Siferol (with the doctor’s knowledge) and started him on PD natural herbal formula we ordered from AKANNI HERBAL CENTRE, his symptoms totally declined over a 3 weeks use of the AKANNI HERBAL Parkinsons disease natural herbal formula. He is now almost 51 and doing very well, the disease is totally reversed! (Visit www. akanniherbalcentre .com)